College Football Schools with the Best and Worst Graduation Rates

When fans around the nation talk about college football, team rankings make up a large portion of the conversation. Where a fan's favorite team lands in the various polls on a weekly basis can be a source of pride or controversy, depending on placement.

However, one ranking that seems to get far less attention by fans and media alike is the one that compares how various teams measure up with others in the classroom.

The NCAA keeps detailed statistics on the performance of all of its student-athletes. This is done in order to keep schools and teams within each NCAA institution accountable.

The most prominent methods of accountability utilized by the NCAA are the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and the Graduation Success Rate (GSR).

The combination of those statistics allows the NCAA to measure how a particular school and its teams are doing in regard to the classroom. When a school or team fails to measure up, it can be penalized by the NCAA in various ways.

In the case of football, those penalties can include things like reduced practice time replaced with increased academic time, spring practice suspensions or even the loss of participation in postseason bowl games.

Those kind of consequences make the academic rankings far more important than the attention they receive. If a team can't make the grade in the classroom, it can definitely affect what it is allowed to do on the field.

Let's take a look at the top and bottom 25 football teams in the FBS when it comes to graduating players and see if there are any surprises.

GSR vs. FGR

Before we break down how current FBS schools are doing in the area of graduation, it is important to understand the methods used to measure such a thing.

First, the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) is a set of numbers utilized by the NCAA to determine how a school is doing in helping its student-athletes complete their education.

This method keeps track of first-time freshmen who are full-time students. It follows those students over the course of a six-year period to see if they graduate at the same institution at which they began their secondary education.

However, this method does not account for students who transfer.

So, the NCAA came up with the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) to more accurately reflect the modern student-athlete experience.

The GSR uses the same type of data as the FGR, but the GSR data also takes into account students who transfer into a school and graduate from that same school. It also doesn't count against a school's rate when a student-athlete in good standing transfers out of that institution to attend another.

For this particular breakdown, we are going to utilize the current Graduation Success Rate (GSR) as our measurement.

Tiebreaker Data

When breaking down the graduation rates of current FBS schools, it was soon realized that many institutions share the same accumulative Graduation Success Rate (GSR) percentages.

In order to effectively list the top and bottom 25 FBS football teams according to their graduation rate, a tiebreaker was needed.

While the GSR is a way to keep an accumulated total of a school's success over a long period of time, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) is used by the NCAA to measure how student-athletes are performing over the course of each school year.

The Association holds Division I institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through the Academic Progress Rate, a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete, each term.

The site goes on to state:

Beginning with 2012-13 championships, teams must earn a minimum 900 four-year APR or a 930 average over the most recent two years to be eligible to participate. For 2014-15 championships, teams must earn a 930 four-year average APR or a 940 average over the most recent two years to participate in championships. In 2015-16 and beyond, teams must earn a four-year APR of 930 to compete in championships.

For this ranking, the most current APR figures will be used as a tiebreaker when the Graduation Success Rate is equal.

Best: 14. Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt carries the torch for the SEC in these rankings. It may not be the talk of the powerhouse football conference, but this football team graduates the most players.

Last season, the Commodores had success on the gridiron as well. The team finished 9-3 on the season, and that includes a 38-24 victory over North Carolina State in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.

Best: 5. Rice

USA TODAY Sports

Team: Rice Owls

GSR: 93

APR: 979

Rice is No. 5 on this list, and it is a team that knows how to finish on and off the field.

In 2012, the squad didn't start all that great. It lost five of its fist six games. However, the team rebounded nicely to win six of its last seven, including the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force.

Best: 1. Northwestern

With a graduation rate of 97, which is tied for the best in the nation, and an APR of 996, which is the best in the nation, Northwestern takes the No. 1 spot on this ranking.

Northwestern finishing first on this list probably doesn't shock a lot of people, but the numbers are truly impressive. What is equally impressive is that the football team has a pretty good on-field product as well.

Last season, the Wildcats finished 10-3 overall, which included a 34-20 win over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl.

Worst: 16. Georgia Tech

The highlight of a mediocre season in 2012 for the Yellow Jackets was the win over USC in the Sun Bowl.

The team finished the season off strong and should be in a position to do even better things in 2013. That is a lot like its academic issues.

Georgia Tech has a GSR of 55. That is the percentage that has accumulated over recent years. However, the APR is a very respectable 983. With a few more years of numbers like that, the Yellow Jackets will see their GSR climb.

Worst: 11. Arkansas

Arkansas had high hopes in 2012. It had a preseason Top 10 ranking but finished the year a disappointing 4-8.

Fast forward one year, and there is a new energy in hog land.

With a new head coach in Bret Bielema, who came over from Wisconsin, the Razorbacks are poised to have an improved season. Let's just hope Bielema can get his players to improve their studies as much as their game.